American Rescue Plan Act
On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law, and established the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund and Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, which together make up the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (“SLFRF”) program. The Town of East Haddam was awarded a SLFRF grant in the amount of $2,662,667. All SLFRF funds must be allocated no later than December 31, 2024, and fully expended no later than December 31, 2026.
The US Treasury Department published the Final Rule on January 27, 2021. The final rule allows municipalities to claim a standard revenue replacement exemption of up to the lessor of $10m or the full amount awarded to the town. Towns that elect the revenue replacement exemption may use SLFRF funds for a broad range of categories to fund “Government Services”. Funds cannot be used to:
- Deposit into a pension fund.
- Pay for debt service or replenishment of reserves.
- Pay a legal settlement.
- Any project that conflicts with or contravenes the purpose of the American Rescue Plan Act statute.
The Town of East Haddam has elected to claim the standard exemption.
Funds may only be used for costs incurred after March 3, 2021, committed by December 31, 2024, and expended by December 31, 2026.
A portion of the approved expenditures were approved as part of the FY22 budget process, with the largest share funding several capital projects. FY24 proposed capital requests were reviewed by the Board of Selectman and the Board of Finance with a goal of using ARPA funds to complete many of the requests while setting aside some funds to leverage as matching funds to other future grants. At its May 8, 2023 Regular meeting, the Board of Finance approved revisions and additions to the proposed use of funds. The resulting budget may be viewed at the link below.